Through the veil and beyond
by Miss Ida
Summary: Sirius has just fallen through the veil in the Department of mysteries. What happens when you're dead in the magical world? Some James and Lily reappearences! Chapter 4's up!
1. A meeting of old friends

Chapter 1

A meeting of old friends

_Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" _

_He yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. _

_Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the stairs again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais. It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place. _

_Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream but knew it meant nothing – Sirius had just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second… _

_But Sirius did not reappear. "SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!" _

Sirius lay motionless on his back, gazing emptilly at the ceiling. After falling through the ragged veil, he could only hear faint cries, some containing his own name. His mind worked slowly, until it focused on one particular familiar voice, the voice of his godson. His heart began pounding hard in his chest, and this brought life and pain into his limps.

He groaned and sat up looking around.

All he could remember clearly was the grin on his cousin's face, as she had hit him in the chest with her spell and caused him to fall through the curtain. He rubbed his head and looked puzzled at the emptiness around him. He couldn't figure out if it was a room shrouded in darkness, or if he had been transported somewhere else. Suddenly he felt a presence of someone else, and a hand grab hold on his shoulder.

He spun around, and found himself looking at the face of his best friend from his days at Hogwarts.

"James?" he said, disbelief shaking his voice while allowing the other man to draw him to his feet. The man was clad in wizard robes, had dark unruly hair and a pair of hazel brown eyes sparkling with emotion through his glasses. He nodded as if no words could express how he felt at this particular moment.

A movement behind the man distracted Sirius and a woman emerged from the shadows.

Sirius, eyes wide open, gazed at the appearance of Lily Potter complete with vividly red hair and a teasing but friendly expression in her green eyes he had begun to associate with the face and nature of his godson. "James, Lily, what are you doing here?" Sirius said, he words echoing in the emptiness around them. He looked around for the curtain as if wanting to shout out to Remus and Harry that he had found something they just had to see. "We could ask you the same question," James Potter said head tilted slightly as if something disapproving had just happened, "you were not supposed to be here you know, at least not at the present time." Sirius turned to face him his face bearing a look of utter puzzlement. Lily laughed, slipped past her husband and embraced Sirius who could do nothing more than give in for the tears that he had been holding back for so many years.

"Thank you" she whispered, "for looking after Harry." "I haven't" Sirius replied, pulling away from her exasperation stopping the tears "I was sent to Azkaban, he went to the Dursleys, I only escaped two years ago, and…" his voice trailed off, as Lily's green eyes fixed him with their penetrating gaze. "We know, but you have done more for him in that little time, than my sister has in 15 years, and for that, we thank you" "Yeah, Padfoot" the sound of his dead friend's voice combined with his old pet name startled Sirius as James moved closer to him, and shook his hand. "Lily's right. You have done so much for Harry, that we could be giving you thanks all the way from here to infinity and still be in your debt." "You were the ones who made him what he is," Sirius said, lump threatening in his throat, "I should be thanking you". "Enough of all the thanks" Lily said; taking Sirius's other hand, dragging him away from the curtain. "We really shouldn't be staying here, let's go home" she said to James, and he nodded.

Before Sirius could ask any of them what in hell they were talking about, he found himself in the kitchen of James and Lily's house in Godrick's Hollow, before it was destroyed that night almost 15 years ago. "What in hell?" he said out loud, forcing a smile to cross James's face. "No no, this isn't hell; I would've hoped that you had higher thoughts of me and Lily than that!" He laughed. "What?" Sirius said his voice weak and all too befuddled to actually understand what was being said. Lily guided him to a chair at the wooden table then made her way to the kettle in order to make some tea. "How come this place isn't ruined?" Sirius asked, looking around the ones so familiar surroundings. "I have to be completely honest with you, Sirius, if you are to understand this" James said, sitting down and looking gravely at his best friend.

"You do know what happened when you fell through that curtain, right?" Sirius shook his head in a confused manner, forcing James to stand up and cry out in desperation "For Merlin's sake Sirius, you're dead!" Lily moved over from the corner with three cups of tea on a tray. "That really wasn't necessary, James. Can't you remember how we felt?" "This is absurd" whispered Sirius, "I just fell through a curtain, obviously I'm unconscious right now, that's why I can talk to you guys, but I swear I could hear Harry shouting my name back there, so I'll be waking up any time now."

he said, as if assuring himself there was noting wrong. "You won't be waking, mate" James said, sorrow in his voice. "We know that all to well. And we heard Harry too. Wonder how he looks like now?" He added. "He looks just like you James," Sirius said, smiling at the thought of his godson, "only, he's got Lily's eyes" he finished looking at Lily, padding her arm "you two have a wonderful boy".

At that Lily couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears. "It's just so lonely to live here without him" she sobbed; "when we were offered to come back here and live in this illusion of our own house, I didn't think of the consequences." "What consequences?" Sirius asked, looking at James. James sighed and gestured to Sirius to follow him. They moved up the stairs James first, Sirius following, and Lily at the back, tears still running down her cheeks. James pushed a door open, and let Sirius enter first. Sirius found himself looking at a light blue room, full of baby stuff and a cot.

Pictures of family and the four marauders occupied the walls. Lily took a deep breath behind him, and buried her face in the robes of her husband. "As you can see," James said "Noting has changed. At first we thought it was a good thing, but as the years passes, it just becomes more and more painful."

Sirius picked up a teddy bear that he himself had given Harry. He nodded.

"I can imagine that" he said, stroking the teddy bear, "I felt the same when I was in Azkaban, well at least in the beginning. After a while it only encouraged the dementors to come by my cell more often, so I transformed into my animagus form, it, all the feelings I mean, became more bearable when I didn't have to deal with them in a human way." For a moment they all stood silent and let all the emotions run through them. It almost felt like Harry had died and not them.

"We should go downstairs again." Lily said, "the tea's getting cold". They made their way down the stairs and sat at the table.

"Listen, you have got to help me get back." It busted out of Sirius "I can't stay here, I mean, its nice being here with you two, but I just can't stop living right now, like this.

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." He continued, then, realising the meaning of his words looked at James: "I'm so sorry James, Lily; I didn't mean it like that. I'm so selfish" "No, no you're not. You're just not used to talking to us about your feelings. It just so happens that our feelings on this area are the same. We all love Harry and neither of us got a chance to say goodbye." Lily assured him. "But there must be a way of getting back" Sirius exclaimed, not ready to accept the truth.

"I'm afraid not." James said, "unless… Dumbledore is still the headmaster of Hogwarts, isn't he?" "Yes" said Sirius, "but I can't see how that's going to help me get back." "Actually it can, has Harry told you about when he found the Mirror of Erised?" Lily asked. "Only briefly. He found this mirror thing and when he stood in front of it, he could see you guys." Sirius answered. "Exactly," Lily said, "that mirror shows your deepest desire, and it was Dumbledore who put it there where he was sure it would be easy for Harry to find." "Now why would Dumbledore do such a thing?" Sirius said, impatient to get to the part of the story that involved him going back. "Because, mate," James said, with a devilish grin on his lips, "we asked him to."


	2. Contact is made

Chapter 2

Contact is made

"You what! I mean, can you actually, are you communicating with Dumbledore? All these years, and he haven't told Harry" Sirius couldn't believe this revelation. Since he fell through the curtain everything had just been a big mess, but this had to be given top prize. "Dumbledore didn't feel Harry was strong enough" Lily said, "It takes an enormous amount of strength to communicate with someone in another sphere. It really drains your energy, and since Harry is still in school, Dumbledore felt it shouldn't be attempted before he had graduated." She continued. "Believe us," James supplied, "it's not like we haven't tried to persuade him into letting Harry try and since he learned the Expecto Patronum charm from Remus in his third year, we think he's strong enough to have a go when he's in his sixth year. At least we hope so." James ended. "But then we must contact Dumbledore!" Sirius said, "as soon as possible. I need to go back to Harry." "There is just one small hiccough" James said. "Dumbledore must contact us. We can't interfere with the living, and only a powerful wizard can establish a contact with the dead."

"So what you're saying is that we have to wait for an indefinite time?" Sirius said and sat down at the table again. "Yes," said Lily "but if I know Albus he's not going to wait. He must have figured out that you'd end up with us. Maybe he'll even contact us before the chosen time" she said, and smiled to James. "That would be nice." She ended. Sirius stared out into the room, contemplating about the two conflicting feelings, being with his friends and the urge to go back. He really wanted to ask them a question that he knew was an unpleasant one. "If you had the chance, would you, you know, return?" he said. James and Lily looked at each other, exchanging glances. "Sirius, there is something you have to understand here" James said, "we died when Harry wasn't even a year old. He grew up with his aunt an uncle, and then went to Hogwarts. We…" he hesitated, "we don't know our own son. Do you have any idea how painful that is?" he finished, hands resting on Lily's shoulders. She was blinking furiously, fighting to hold back her tears. "Right now I think it would be better not to know him at all, than to be close to him for two years and then part." Sirius said, eyes still focused on nothing. Then he turned to James and Lily "but you do know him," he said, "You know him because you had time with him when he was little, and you know him because he's your flesh and blood. He is you" Sirius finished. "I would like to hold him again. To say goodnight to him, writing letters to him at school, and anticipating his answers. Being a real family. Just a normal one, without Voldemort hovering in a corner of our minds, with a constant warning that we have to be careful with everything we do." "I couldn't imagine going back," said James, "I wouldn't know what to say to him." "You're his parents you don't need to explain anything. He will love you for who you are. Trust me he won't ask any questions, he will be content just to be near you." Sirius assured them. A silence followed his words. Then suddenly a cloud of smoke-like substance appeared, hovering just over the dining table. Sirius cried out in surprise and fell backwards on the chair, hitting the floor with an impact so strong that it would have knocked him out if he hadn't been dead. James laughed and hurried over to help him saying: "For Merlin's sake, Sirius. Is that the way you handle surprises these days. I knew a time when you would have drawn your wand as soon as sensing something was afoot." "Well, age does change something, and so does Azkaban. You know, I didn't really expect something like that to come out of the thin air. What is it any way" he asked, while rubbing his back although there was no need for it.

"Well, if you stopped your complaining and grumbling and opened your eyes, you might just figure it out yourself!" Lily said. She was gesturing to the smoke-like substance that now had turned into a 3D hologram, full in colour and about 50 centimetres high. "Holy hippogriff!" Sirius exclaimed.


	3. Dumbledore's visit

_Author's notes: Sorry about the state of the previous chapter, I haven't quite go hold of the techniques that surrounds Anyway here's chapter three, hope you like it!_

Chapter 3

Dumbledore's visit

"Good evening, Sirius. And thank you for your kind welcome" Albus Dumbledore's voice said, completely in sync with the lips on the holographic figure of him standing on the table. "Good evening Albus, we thought you would contact us sooner than arranged." Lily said, smiling to Dumbledore. "Yes," replied Dumbledore, "given the circumstances I had to see if Mr. Black were with you." He turned and winked at Sirius who stood, mouth open unable to understand properly what was taking place before his very eyes. When he finally spoke, it was with some difficultness.

"How's Harry?" he said, he's voice a little shaken by the thought of what Harry had had to go through. "Ah, you put your finger on the exact reason for my visit tonight." Dumbledore calmly replied. "Has something happened to him? He would be here, if…" James said, his voice trailing off at the thought of the unthinkable. That Harry should have died.

"He is not dead, he is merely frustrated that Sirius has left us" said Dumbledore. "But one can hardly blame Sirius." he continued. "As a matter of fact, I believe it helped him a bit when he nearly demolished my office. Not to worry," he added at James's perplexed expression, "he didn't break anything I couldn't live without." "Was he angry with me?" Sirius asked, afraid of the answer.

Harry was the only person he had left in this world or that world as he had to remind himself of, the only person he really cared about and would do anything for. "He was angry with himself, and seemed to think that he could have prevented your death." Dumbledore answered. "We talked long and I told him everything. The whole reason why Lord Voldemort chose him, and not Mr. Neville Longbottom, who also had, if you please, the proper qualifications; parents who had thrice defied him and a birthday in the end of July."

"How did he take it all?" said Lily, "He was very quiet, and for a moment I thought he never would believe me and accept the situation." Dumbledore replied, "but he did accept it in the end. The only thing that made him uneasy and it is in his right to feel so, is the part of the prophesy that says: _Neither can live while the other survives_. He seemed quite taken by the fact that he had to be the murderer or the victim." "Well, who wouldn't be!" said Sirius. He could certainly put himself in Harry's place. Not yet fully capable to take on the Dark Lord, and not willing to wait around for him either.

"But Albus," said Lily "is Harry ready for such a challenge?" Dumbledore surveyed her through his half-moon glasses. "Not yet I'm afraid, Lily" he replied, "but trust me. As long as he resides either on Hogwarts or in the home of your sister, he will be save. It is what comes after I fear" he finished.

There was a silence when they all seemed to contemplate solutions to this problem. Sirius had wanted to help Harry get away from the Dursleys and now it seemed it was the only place he was safe. Unless… "Dumbledore, can you do a protective charm if he moves from his aunt and uncle?" He asked. "I mean, when he graduates from Hogwarts I'm sure he won't be staying with them, and I just kind of thought he could live in my place."

"I can never do such a successful charm another place. The thing I relied upon was the bond of blood, as Lily died to safe him, her blood would protect him. That is why I placed him with the Dursley family." Dumbledore replied, "but I suppose we could use the Fidelus charm again, although this time with a more successful secret keeper"

"No. As much as I miss Harry, I will not have you or him or anyone chance his life with that charm" James said firmly. "That will be up to him when that time comes" said Dumbledore.

Another silence followed this. Dumbledore sighed: "Well, I should return to my school and my students again. But I have one last thing to tell you, James, Lily." He said "I think Harry will be able to establish a contact sooner than expected" "What? Albus, when?" Lily said, and James continued: "What are you basing this on?" "On the fact that he has founded a little study group you might call it," Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eye "you see, when I was away and Miss Dolores Umbridge was in charge, he amongst others were not pleased in her way of teaching on the subject of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

He and his friends formed a group so that they could practise charms and hexes to be used if Lord Voldemort should return to full power." "You mean he did something against the law?" said Lily, while smiles began to spread over James and Sirius' faces. "I knew it! That's my boy!" James said, as he and Sirius began to dance around the table. "Finally he shows some potential!" yelled Sirius, "I was beginning to wonder when he would do something reckless and make us proud"

Lily scowled at them. "But Albus, surely this is not going to continue, is it?" she asked. "Well," Dumbledore hesitated "if Dolores Umbridge were still around it certainly would not. But as I once again have taken the quarters of the Headmaster in use, I dare say he shall have my permission." he ended, looking pleased with his outlay of the current situation.

"Aha! And what did they call themselves?" James sang "such a truly wonderful organization must have a name!" He and Sirius were now dancing a polka, kicking around, turning a few chairs over in sheer joy. "Yes, indeed." Dumbledore said, looking with absolute delight at the dancers. "They called themselves _Dumbledore's Army_."

Silence fell. "_Dumbledore's Army_?" James said disbelief in his voice. "Ah, well I guess it's okay, don't you Prongs?" Sirius said, not getting the seriousness of the name, "it's not a bad name, but it could be better. Something along the lines of: _The Association for the Protection of the Continuation of Wizard Kind" _he said, collapsing into a fit of laughs. James looked at him. "Well, I think he's better coming up with names than you are." He said. "After all, it was me who came up with the Marauders" he ended, and then concluded: "He must have my intelligence."

Lily looked at him, now a smile on her lips as well "Poor boy, failing in every class if he's got your brain." Dumbledore chuckled: "As much as I would love to stay and hear this enchanting discussion of yours, I really must be getting back. Oh, and Sirius?" he added, Sirius looking up and scrambling to his feet from the floor where he had taken to in his fit of laughs, "Your great-great-grandfather bade me to say hello from him." "Oh, did he? Sirius replied, "Ah, well, I knew the old hare-brained fool had a soft spot for me hidden somewhere deep."

"Yes, well, I shall contact you again on the arranged date. At that time I should've been able to talk to Harry about our plans and see what he thinks of them." Dumbledore then smiled, said goodnight and in a second he was gone from sight.

_Author's notes: Well, there it is, (or was?), if you feel so inclined, please review, I'm open to new ideas and suggestions anytime!_


	4. The Afterlife life

_A/N: Well, here it is then. Chapter four! Sorry it took me so long to finish it, but I was short of inspiration. Thank you to my friend Katrine, who helped me to make Sirius look silly and come up with some great song titles and writers. But anyway, on with the story!_

Chapter 4

The after-life life

"Well, that was enlightening" Sirius said, eyes still rooted to the spot where Dumbledore had been only seconds before. There was not a single trace on the wooden surface of the smoke-like substance, all was still and the happiness of the moments before had vanished and then James spoke: "I think we should go to bed, after all it has been a long day for you Sirius it must be late in the living world. We were lucky that Albus gave some of his time tonight".

Sirius looked at them both. Had death made them modest? James would never have said anything like that when they were at Hogwarts. He wouldn't have waited around for Dumbledore to contact him. He would have gone straight to the Headmasters office. Sirius smiled at this. And then he would have said the password and be cheered by the portraits. They had been there too many times.

With the cruel realisation that comes with maturity, Sirius knew that it wasn't just death that had changed Lily, James and him self. It was responsibility. The responsibility of having a real job, being in the Order, and in the particular case of James and Lily, getting married and having a child. When it came to Sirius, he hadn't matured as much, only when they had made him Harry's godfather. A job he had so miserably failed. No, Azkaban had made Sirius realize what was important and what wasn't. He had been right in going to the Ministry of Magic to save Harry. Even if it had let to his own death.

Days passed without any significant things taking place. Sirius told James and Lily news from the living world they hadn't heard from Dumbledore. This mostly involved news of Lupin and the questionable behaviour of Snape.

"I really can't see why Dumbledore keeps him" James said, after another long discussion. Lilly looked up from her book took a deep breath and then said: "I think, James, it would be foolish to question the actions of Dumbledore. We are a bit beyond that point aren't we? In so many ways".

Sirius simply couldn't understand the fact that Lily also stood up for Snape. He had betrayed her family and still she was protecting him. "I'm not protecting him you know" Lily said. "I'm just saying that we should trust Dumbledore's judgement. In any case, we are not in a position where we can do anything about it." She ended.

Sirius had forgotten what it was like being with people who knew you so well, that they knew what you where thinking.

He liked it in a way, but it also frightened him a bit.

Some days later, Sirius sat with his head in his cupped hands, elbows on the table. He was bored. It was as simple as that. He had never thought of how it would feel like to be dead. Although he had had a lot of problems and not exactly an easy life, it had been fun and being dead simply couldn't catch up with it. The backdoor of the house creaked opened and James and Lily entered.

Broad smiles were threatening to break on their faces. They sat down opposite Sirius and James began to talk, "Listen mate, there's something you've got to do, now that you're dead." He said it very solemnly and Lily looked down and started to scratch in the table. "We're all entitled to do this because it's some fucked up fantasy that everyone alive has." James continued.

Sirius looked from his best friend to Lily and back again. "Well, what is it? I mean, it can't be that bad. It's not like I have to grow wings or something like that, right? Because, you two don't have wings. Unless you're hiding them somewhere and only let them out on special occasions." He said this with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

His last words left the kitchen silent, until Lily spoke: "Well, you have to play the harp." She said. "The what?" Sirius yelled and stood up. "You must be joking," he continued. If he, Sirius Lee Black, started playing the harp in public, his reputation as a real man would be gone.

"No, we're not joking" Lily said, "we talked to the man that leads our orchestra and he's willing to let you in. That's why we were gone for so long today. James, if you please." She added and James got up, walked to the back door and opened it. He stepped outside and came in again seconds later, with an enormous harp.

"I'm not playing it" Sirius said. "Oh yes you are" Lily replied. "James got one too, same size as yours now that you are men and I've got a smaller one. It's unbelievable. Even when you're dead you have to suffer from discrimination, just because you're a woman!" she ended. Sirius looked pleadingly at James as if begging him to say this was all some big misunderstanding. But James just gave him the harp and showed him how to hold it.

"There," he said, "now, try strike a tune." Sirius put his finger on one of the strings and it made a sound. "Very nice" said Lily, with a satisfied look on her face. Her smiled widened and she looked to James, he too, smiled. "What?" said Sirius, "you don't think I'm good enough for your little orchestra? Well, what about this then, eh?"

And he then played the full arrangement of the famous no. 1romantic hit from their school days: "Heart of Magic" by Adobe Allister. When he had finished the song, he looked up triumphantly. Lily and James looked at him in awe. They hadn't expected this to happen.

"I've got one for you too, Lils" Sirius said, and he then began to play the favourite song of all the girls in their year: "Whatever Makes You Magic" by the young Celestina Warbeck. He looked up halfway through the song. Lily and James were laughing hard, Lily supporting herself to James' arm.

"What?" Sirius said again. "It was a joke, mate," James panted, "honestly, we didn't you would be this good at it, we just wanted to see the look on you're face when you found out you had to play the harp."

"Where did you learn it?" Lily asked. She had seated herself at the table, clutching her side. "Grandmother," Sirius answered quietly and continued, "that wasn't funny" "Oh yes, it was. You should have seen the look of concentration on your face, Merlin, that was priceless" James grinned.

Sirius put the harp aside and stood up, armed crossed. "Oh, don't be such a bore!" Lily exclaimed, "Did you think we had changed completely, just because we died! Yes, we have a bit more sense of responsibility, but we can still make a joke." She ended. "Oh, piss off!" Sirius said, but then couldn't help it and joined the laughter.

They spend the rest of the day teasing Sirius with his excellent harp playing, and listening to his pathetic and continuously protests, that they were just jealous.

_A/N: Hoped you liked it. I can't remember where I've read that Sirius' middle name was Lee, but I think it's quite funny, so I used it too. If you liked it, please review and if you didn't, please review anyway and make suggestions, on how I can improve my writing. Still looking for inspiration for chapter 5! _

_Ida. _


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